Bitter melon fruit and breast cancer

Stories about fruit, plants and cancer seem to come around every week or so don't they? Bitter melon extract is the latest one of interest ....

Bitter melon is not really a melon at all - more like a gourd and sometimes called the wild cucumber. It's a strange and knobbly looking thing.

However, true to form, scientists have looked at it's so called healing powers and found key ingredients of the bitter melon fruit interfered with chemical pathways involved in cancer growth - well, in the laboratory at least.

The research suggested that the melon fruit extract turned off signals telling the breast cancer cells to divide and switched on signals encouraging them to commit suicide. Experts told Cancer Research journal more trials were needed. Well (said with a wry smile) - they always do don' t they.

Now - don't get me wrong, I'm not being a huge cynic about this. There could after all be something in it - but we really do have a long way to go on this one.

Even the study author is pouring cold water on the stance that some press reports are taking. Although promising as an anti-cancer agent, trials in animals and then humans are still needed and there is of course absolutely no proof whatsoever that eating the fruit has any effect once it's digested. It's a big step from using an extract on raw cells in a test tube, to eating it in our diet and expecting a benefit.

Thousands of plant extracts seem to be able to influence cancer cells in the lab but only a very few make it through research into actual use for patients.

For the moment it seems better to focus on getting the message across about things we know to be true. Drinking less alcohol, being more physically active and keeping a healthy weight can all reduce the risk of breast cancer - and these are solid hard facts, not speculation.

Makes you think - doesn't it.

Gordon